A Look at the Languages Spoken in Afghanistan

Pashto and Dari (Afghan Persian) are the official languages of Afghanistan.
Pashto was declared the National Language of the country during the beginning
of Zahir Shah's reign, however, Dari has always been used for business and
government transactions. Both belong to the Indo-European group of languages.
According to recent US government estimates, approximately 35 percent of the
Afghan population speaks Pashto, and about 50 percent speaks Dari. Turkic
languages (Uzbek and Turkmen) are spoken by about 11 percent of the
population. There are also numerous other languages spoken in the country (Baluchi,
Pashai, Nuristani, etc.), and bilingualism is very common.

Both Pashto and Dari are written primarily with the Arabic alphabet,
however, there are some modifications. Pashto literature saw a massive rise in
development in the 17th century, mostly due to poets like Khushal Khan Khattak,
who is known today as the national poet of Afghanistan. Other noteworthy
Pashto poets in history were Rahman Baba, and the founder of the modern Afghan
nation, Ahmad Shah Abdali.

Dari also has an extensive literature, actually, some of the worlds
greatest poems have been written in Dari. Dari poems by Jalaluddin Rumi have
been translated from its original Dari versions to numerous other languages,
and is widely read even in the west. Many powerful kingdoms of the past such
as those of the Moghuls in India, primarily used Dari in their royal courts.